The Music Still Plays On

Chapter 3: We Rearrange

After spending nearly two months in Hogwarts, I found that it wasn't as bad as I first thought. I began talking to Eleanor Bronder, a shy girl who didn't say much until we headed up to our dormitory after the banquet. Like me, had just about had it with Isabella's constant chattering, and, after Isabella was keeping us all awake by telling us about the Weird Sister's 9^th Farewell Tour, which she attended in June, Eleanor promptly told her to shut up.

As these were the first words Eleanor (or Nellie, as she told us to call her) had spoken all day, the rest of us looked at her in surprise. Most of the other girls, especially Isabella, thought she was rather strange, but after her declaration in the dormitory, she became one of my only friends. We often discussed our families. She was muggle-born and an only child, coming from a small family. As a result, she was insanely jealous of all the relatives I had. As much as I tried to tell her how annoying they could be, she still wanted to meet them all. At the moment, on the way to our Charms class, she was trying to persuade me to invite her to come home with me over the Christmas holidays.

"Please? I won't be too much trouble! I've never had a proper Christmas dinner before- we always ended up going to some restaurant, my parents were horrid cooks," she explained. I was becoming exasperated.

"Look, I don't even know if I'm even coming home for Christmas- James said that usually we stay and have dinner here. And even if we do come home, won't your parents miss you?" I asked.

"Nah- they're going somewhere tropical for Christmas. Mum definitely won't want me to tag along- I haven't spoken a word to her since she found out I was a witch."

"Nellie, you're being unreasonable. It isn't even Halloween yet. I've been dedicating all my time to my Charms homework, not to planning my holidays."

"Oh, wasn't that hard? It took me forever to finish it. I hate Professor Wilbourn- she's so perky all the time. Makes me sick. Plus, we have to have class with those wretched Slytherins. Ugh!" Nellie said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"Oh, come on! It's not that bad. Plus, Wilbourn says we'll be learning how to make objects fly today in class! I'm so excited!" I said as we walked into Wilbourn's classroom. I took my usual place next to Nellie at a desk at the front of the classroom just as Professor Wilbourn was about to address the class.

"Good morning, students!" Professor Wilbourn chirped, with a huge smile on her face. "As you know, today we are learning one of the essential charms: wingardium leviosa! Isn't it exciting?" she remarked, ignoring the dull expressions on the faces of her students.

"Right. Now, I'm going to pair you guys up today so you can practice! It's going to be so much fun! And you're not just going to be with the person next to you, either. I'm going to assign pairs RANDOMLY! Yay!" Professor Wilbourn announced. I had no idea how she could be so perky this early in the morning- the class was right after breakfast. Must be all the tea she has at breakfast. None of my other professors treated assigning partners like a party.

"Eleanor Bronder, you'll be with...Tamika Bletchley!" Nellie and Tamika both groaned. They hated each other from the moment Tamika made a crack about Nellie being muggle-born in the halls one day. Professor Wilbourn, however, didn't seem to notice this. She kept on calling out the names of the partners until, finally, two names were left.

"And Rose Weasley, you're with...well, it's obvious, isn't it? Scorpius Malfoy!" I looked at Scorpius, who was currently sitting between Blair and Blaine Carrow. Cautiously, I walked over to his desk and sat down after Blair and Blaine went to their partners.

"And so remember boys and girls: a swish and a flick will do just the trick!" Professor Wilbourn said, demonstrating with her wrist. "Now get to it!"

Neither Scorpius nor I knew what to say at this moment. After several minutes of silence, I spoke up.

"Well, um...I guess I'll give it a try. I'm probably gonna be really bad at this...Wingardium Leviosa!" To my surprise, the feather immediately floated up into the air.

"Everyone, look! Rose's just done it! Five points for Gryffindor!" Professor Wilbourn cheered as the entire class stared at me, wondering how I had accomplished that feat so fast.

"Wow, Rose! You're amazing!" Al, who was sitting with his partner in the desk across from us, said.

"How'd you do that?" Scorpius asked, dumbfounded.

"You know what? I have no idea," I admitted. "I mean, I've watched Mum do it all the time, but I never thought I'd be able to do it on the first try."

"Hmm. I'll try it, then, to see if I'll have your luck," Scorpius said. "Wingardium leviosa!" The feather remained on the desk. As I looked around at my classmates, I saw that his experience was not uncommon. Al and his partner, a rather large girl named Bertha Higgs, had no success. Blaine and Blair, who Professor Wilbourn always partnered together, had only succeeded in setting their feather on fire and watching it burn instead of doing anything to extinguish it or make it fly. Isabella was telling her partner (an uninterested Jordan Zabini) about her recipe for peanut butter banana crisp rice bars, paying no attention to the task at hand.

"Here, let me help you. If you want, that is. I mean, if you'd rather work it out yourself, that's fine too, I don't want to seem too much of a bother..." I babbled. Scorpius gave me a funny look.

"Uh...sure, that'd be fine."

"Ok. First of all, you're not moving your arms that much at all. And it's swish and flick, not flick and swish. And another thing..."

"Wait, what was the first thing? Not so fast, you're confusing me," Scorpius said, looking straight at me.

"Um...why don't you watch me do it again, so you can see how it's done," I said, mesmerized by his gaze. "Wingardium leviosa!" The feather rose into the air once again.

"Ok, now you're just showing off," Al remarked. Scorpius tried and failed a couple more times as I instructed him in the proper technique. Just as he was about to try for one last time, a shout rose out from the middle of the class.

"Professor Wilbourn? Can I have a different partner? I refuse to work with this mudblood," Tamika hissed.

"Take that back right now!" Nellie yelled.

"Never. Your kind don't belong here."

"That's it!" Nellie shouted, punching Tamika squarely in the jaw. Tamika followed by slapping Nellie across the face. The fight continued to escalate as Scorpius and I, horrified, looked on. Professor Wilbourn tried to control the class, but once the fight broke out, it was of no use. Finally, Professor Wilbourn separated Tamika and Nellie to opposite ends of the room by magic, sending a shower of purple sparks from her wand to get the rest of the class's attention.

"Miss Bletchley, Miss Bronder," Professor Wilbourn said curtly, in a rare moment of absolutely no enthusiasm. "I am taking fifty points from each of your houses for such an immature display. In addition, both of you will receive a detention in my office immediately following dinner tonight." By this point, class was almost over. With all of our attention, Professor Wilbourn addressed the class once more, her pep suddenly returning.

"Ok, class! Looks like Rose's the only one who has successfully done it, but you all have plenty of time to try next class. For homework: 3 scrolls on the importance of levitation and how it changed our wizarding world. And remember: practice, practice, practice! I want all of you to be able to make that feather fly by the next class! Class dismissed," Professor Wilbourn said.

"Wait, Professor Wilbourn, I think I have it!" Scorpius announced. "Wingardium leviosa!" To my delight, the feather rose in the air just as it had for me.

"Well done, Scorpius! Practice does make perfect!" Professor Wilbourn said.

As the feather settled to the ground, Scorpius gave me a hug. I didn't know what to think. The whole class was staring at us. Quickly, we both pulled away.

"So, did you read about that Quidditch match the other day?" Scorpius asked, trying to come up with a distraction.

"Yeah- the Chudley Cannons lost again," I said, keeping up with the ruse. No one seemed to believe it, as people were still giving us weird looks as we left. We both walked away, stunned at what had just happened between us. I met up with Nellie after class, who was sporting several bruises from the fight.

"I hate her!" Nellie vented, referring to Tamika. "She's such a little brat. Once she told Wilbourn that she refused to work with a mudblood, I had just about had it. How dare she say a thing like that? And now I have detention! I hate that class."

"I don't find it that bad, actually," I admitted.

"Easy for you to say- you actually got that blasted spell to work. I don't understand how you managed to work with that Scorpius kid, though- he gives me the creeps."

"Well, I managed. I would've loved to have been partnered with you or Al, though. It makes me more nervous when I have to do spells in front of people," I lied. In fact, it didn't make me nervous at all, and I was glad that I was partnered with Scorpius- it gave us another chance to talk. I still didn't see why everyone else didn't like him, but I wasn't going to tell Nellie about it right now.

"It certainly didn't look that way to me- you got it to work twice! Plus, you and Scorpius were practically snogging by the end of class!" Great. I knew I wasn't a good liar.

"Snogging? Ew! I just helped him with the spell, that's all." Nellie gave me a funny look as we walked up to our common room. I had hoped that most of my classmates were too distracted by the fight to notice what Scorpius and I were doing, but it seemed that wasn't the case. Oh well. Nellie and the rest of my friends would just have to rearrange their attitudes just as Tamika had had her jar rearranged by Nellie, because I was determined to stop pretending that Scorpius and I were becoming friends.